Learning Hope
by A product of boredom
Summary: The X-Men discover a group of mutants living in the wilderness of Washington state. Character Profile: Nick. He wears black, seems to dislike everyone, and hangs out with the girl who hears voices. What is up with this guy? Character portrait, cool!
1. They Didn't Exactly Live Well

A really long time ago I started watching X-Men Evolution, just after it first came out. I also started reading fan fiction. Back then there were maybe a dozen for so pages of evo stories on ff.net. Well, I stopped watching the show, but lately I started again. So I wrote this chapter to exorcise the little demons of inspiration that have been plaguing me since then. Well, I logged onto ff.net to see about getting it posted, made an account, and low and behold, there were suddenly over a hundred pages of stories. So I think I'll read some of them, don't surprised to see me reviewing some time soon.  
  
Anyway, about this story. First and foremost, you are entering a Mary Sue free zone. I detest it when people write super idealized versions of themselves into stories, so I am not going to do it. You will encounter some original characters, but they will be just that, carefully thought out people with personalities, goals, and flaws.  
  
And one more thing, I put this story in the Drama/Humor categories. It's not a parody, the humor isn't over the top in any way, rather, there will be both serious and lighthearted moments, sort of like the actual series.  
  
  
  
  
  
Kale glanced around the small clearing. Firelight bathed everyone and made the shadows grow menacingly, the windowless bulk of their cabin loomed just outside of the ring of light, looking like some set from an old b-movie. He could hear animal cries, wolves and owls mostly. He shivered, he'd never get used to wolves, he was still a city boy at heart.  
  
They didn't exactly live well. True, the cabin did have a power generator, but the gasoline to keep it running cost way too much, so on warm nights they'd retreat to the outside, and sit around the fire. None of the plumbing worked, but at least there was a well. There were only two rooms, and for the seven of them, eight counting Spiny who always slept outside, it was hardly enough space.  
  
They scavenged for food, or stole from the nearest towns, or sometimes Wen would play his flute on the street corners, but he rarely got much money. They almost never had any meat, except on the rare occasions that Spiny would kill a full grown deer and bring it to the cabin, in her mouth. She sometimes brought rabbits too, but those were usually so mauled there wasn't much left to cook with.  
  
But despite all that, he felt safe, safer than he ever remembered being before. Even when the old man had taken him in, he'd never felt as if he really belonged there. Or maybe he'd just never felt comfortable. The old man had that effect on people.  
  
/Don't you ever let them find out about you, kid. No matter how much you think ya' trust them, or care about them, they'll turn on ya' when they know. And keep your head down! Never be obvious, some of them will look at ya' and not notice a thing wrong, others will see that weird hair of yours and they'll know, and God help you then, kid./  
  
The old man had been paranoid, that was for shitin' sure, but he also knew all sorts of things that Kale could only guess at. The old man had first hand experience with trusting people, he'd told Kale a few times about an old friend of his that had been captured and taken away. He didn't know by who, or what had happened to him, but the old man was certain it wasn't a good thing.  
  
Kale put his hand in his pocket and fished out a small stone figurine of an eagle. He ran his hand over its impossibly detailed surface. Every feather was perfectly formed. The eagle seemed as if it could come alive at any moment. The old man had been good. He'd made a living with his ability, an honest living, that was more than Kale had ever managed. Kale remembered him perfectly, bare hands buried in a block of solid stone, forming it into a deer, or a tiger, or whatever else struck him, all the while yelling at Kale and Wen to "keep their heads down" or "stay unnoticeable".  
  
Kale smiled, being unnoticeable was his specialty. Kale tossed his figurine into the air and then caught it again, his arm vanishing as the eagle descended, making it look like it was suspended in mid air. He chuckled to himself. That would never cease to amuse him.  
  
An soft mewling sound pulled his thoughts away from the old man. Next to the fire, Spiny sat crouched, pawing insistently at the logs, her claws raking deep trenches in the dirt. She mewled again looking at the rising flames. As if to punctuate her insistence, her stomach growled loudly.  
  
Kale wasn't certain whether Spiny was friend, pet, or mascot. Just about the only thing he was certain of was that she was a fellow mutant. Her eyes reflected the firelight, like a cat's, her hands (paws?) ended in curved retractable claws. Instead of hair she had a mass of porcupine-like quills, sweeping backwards from her face and running halfway down her back in a ridge. Her long, wavy, tail ended in similar bunch of quills, and her ears were topped with small tufts of coarse hair. She also had whiskers. She looked for all the world like some kind of demented cross between a human, a lynx, and a porcupine. If the platypus was proof that God had a sense of humor, than she was proof that God was a sadistic bastard.  
  
Since they had found her in the forests near the cabin, or rather since she had found them, Kale hadn't heard her utter a single word. Athena claimed that she probably just lacked the physical parts to form words, and had spent weeks trying to teach her basic sign language, to no effect whatsoever. Kale figured that Spiny lacked the mental capacity to learn language, he'd read about feral children from some of the old man's books, and she certainly looked and acted as if she'd been abandoned as a kid. But that didn't explain how she seemed to understand what they said, sometimes at least, and it definitely didn't explain the tattered shorts and tee shirt she'd been wearing when they found her.  
  
Spiny mewled again, louder this time, and continued to paw at the ground near the fire.  
  
"Not yet, just give them a few more minutes," Athena said, looking away from the book she and Dorien had been looking over.  
  
Kale leaned against the tree behind him, watching her. Athena, calm patient, she was mother to them all, never mind that she was actually a few months younger than he was. Her white skin and hair gleamed in the low light, making her look ghostly. She sat, pointing out passages to Dorian, that her pupil-less, iris-less, eyes shouldn't have let her see. She looked as if she had been carved out of marble, just like one of the old man's sculptures come to life, like a Greek statue. They had named her well, Athena. But she was getting too thin, she was starting to resemble a skeleton. Kale suspected that she was eating less so that everyone else would have more.  
  
Dorian was sitting on a long, hunched over while writing in a tattered composition book Wen had found in a trash can somewhere. He struggled to keep the pen steady in his webbed fingers while keeping is sopping wet blue- green hair from dripping all over the pages. Unless he was dehydrated, Dorian's hair was always wet, no matter what he'd been doing, not matter how far away from water he was, it was always dripping. He did dehydrate easily, though. They'd had a lot of trouble with it in the past, particularly when it had gotten real dry earlier that summer. Athena hadn't left his side until he was better.  
  
He was already thirteen, and he could barely read or write. Athena was doing her best to teach them, both him and Nena, but they hardly had the resources to give them much of an education. Too bad he could never go to school, looking like he did.  
  
Wen was sitting in the branches of a nearby tree, playing his flute. Wen was the dreamer, the artist, the one that would rather buy a sketch book than dinner. Kale and Wen had been best friends since they'd both been about thirteen. They'd met at the orphanage, where they both been temporarily housed between foster homes. Together they'd orchestrated a minor crime wave that had actually made it on to the San Fransisco news. Between the two of them they'd been unstoppable. Then they'd met the old man, and that had changed them. Well, in reality it had changed Kale more than Wen. Kale had stayed with the old man, but Wen was flighty, he didn't like to settle down in one place for long, and he'd left the first chance he got. He'd showed up again for one of his routine visits two years later, the day before the old man died. The two of them had taken up wandering again, heading steadily northward. The old man had left Kale with a wish to do things right, to not be a criminal anymore. He hadn't always managed, but together they done their best. They'd eventfully found the cabin, and manged to get the generator working, of course by that time there were more than two of them. Nena, Dorian, and Athena had joined them along the way.  
  
Nena lay across from them, half asleep. She was cuddling with her stuffed teddy, and it was actually cuddling back. That ability still weirded Kale out. Sure, Wen's was more impressive, and Nick's was much scarier, in a Gothic sort of way, but Nena's walking stuffed animals were just creepy. It reminded Kale of that movie he's seen with the evil killer doll that chased people around with a knife.  
  
Nena was the youngest, she was nine years old, soon to be ten. Unlike the others she seemed to have developed her ability at a much earlier age. Maybe it was because she'd been so lonely as kid, by all accounts her father hadn't exactly been loving, he'd sent her away to Catholic school as soon as she was old enough. Things had gotten vastly worse after her power did surface. The school had kicked her out, and her father had become convinced that she was possessed. She'd run away, and smack dab into Kale and Wen, who ended up taking her with them.  
  
It had been Nena who had found Dorian, with her insistence they go see "The Amazing Fish-Boy" at the circus. Athena had shown up later, when they were already in upstate California, just in time to warn their little travailing freak-show about some less than friendly locals. After that they made an effort to be less noticeable.  
  
"They're done! Everyone come and get some!" Athena called out from the fire.  
  
"Meeroow!" Spiny exclaimed, she'd definitely understood that. Kale winced as she shoved her entire arm into the fire, roted around in the leaves in the bottom, and pulled out a tinfoil wrapped object, totally unaffected by the fire. He knew it wouldn't hurt her, he'd seen her do it before, but it still bothered him.  
  
Wen jumped from the tree he'd been sitting in, his fall slowed by a sudden gust of wind, and Nena woke from her nap, the teddy bear stretching comically as she sat up. Kale stepped forward to join them, but stopped when he noticed Laurie, a newer arrival, sitting under a nearby tree, just outside of the circle of light. He was about to say something to her, invite her join them, but she just turned to him and smiled a knowing smile, and shook her head.  
  
"'Her smiles are like light in the darkness, her tears like water to the thirsty,' isn't it so, my friend?" a smooth voice hissed in his ear.  
  
Kale jumped back with a start. Nick was standing right next to him, he'd been able to feel Nick's breath on his ear.  
  
"Jesus funkin' Christ! Don't do that, you psycho!" Kale exclaimed drawing temporary attention from the rest of the gathering. Confrontations between Kale and Nick were not a new thing.  
  
Nick narrowed his eyes, and then smiled. Kale shuddered, Nicks eyes were black, solid black, no whites or anything, so was his hair, his skin was pale, and his teeth were very, very white. The combination made him look like a vampire, or a Goth wannabe, or something. He was a total dork really, and the stupid black clothing didn't help either.  
  
"She is beautiful, isn't she?" Nick asked, black eyes never leaving Kale's face. Kale supposed Laurie was pretty, in a fragile girl-next-door kinda way. Brown eyes, fine features, a short bob of brown hair, she was really pretty, actually.  
  
"Come to think of it," Nick said, his grin turning distinctly unpleasant, as he raised a pale hand. "So are you." Nick's long, black, nails touched the side of Kale's face, before Kale swatted his hand away.  
  
"Get away from me, you weirdo!" Kale yelled, stepping backwards.  
  
Nick just laughed at and turned towards the fire, he retrieved two tinfoil packets in an old dish cloth and took them to Laurie. She smiled as he approached, not the sort of smile she had given Kale, this one was more welcoming. What did she see in that creep? And why did Kale always feel as if Nick got the better of their conversations? And where the heck did he get nail polish all way out here?  
  
Kale, snorted in disgust, and took a seat by the fire. Athena handed him one of the packets. He found potatoes and what looked like a piece of a dead bird. He really hoped it wasn't a part of one of the throughly mauled chickens Spiny had brought back that afternoon. Then again, that was probably better than the alternatives.  
  
He found his gaze drifting back towards Laurie and Nick. They were sitting together, talking quietly and sharing their food. The two of them had just shown up at the cabin one day. Laurie had said that she'd just "known" they'd be here. That seemed to be her ability, knowing things she had no business knowing, like all about the old man, and how Wen's parents had died. She was seriously weird, and she hung out with Nick, who was even weirder. Maybe she wasn't so cute after all. She'd always seemed pretty harmless, not like Nick and his killer shadows. That was seriously freaky, it /was/ creepier than Nena's stuffed animals.  
  
Kale poked at his food, not quite certain he was hungry anymore. Spiny had finished tearing through hers and was eying his hungrily. He sighed and tossed her his meat, which she devoured in moments. Nena and Dorian were laughing at something, Spiny had just curled up at Athena's feet, who was having an involved conversation with Wen, who was smiling way more than he usually did.  
  
/Great, of the four girls, two of them are my age and cute, and neither of them is interested in me,/ he thought to himself, dejectedly.  
  
"Someone's coming!" Laurie's voice cut through the small gathering.  
  
"Eh? What's that?" Wen asked, not looking away from Athena.  
  
"Someone is coming. No, wait, there are several, and they might be dangerous," Laurie replied, standing up.  
  
That got Wen's attention. "How do you know?" he asked, pushing himself to his feet. When she just glared at him he raised both his hands helplessly. "Right, forgot we're not suppose to ask."  
  
"What do you mean, they /might/ be dangerous?" Athena asked, not standing. She was always calm.  
  
"I'm not certain, they came here looking for us. They /are/ ready for a fight."  
  
"Then they /are/ dangerous," Kale said, abandoning his dinner and getting to his feet. Spiny devoured his uneaten portion the moment he wasn't looking.  
  
"He's right," Nick said unexpectedly supporting Kale. "There's only one reason they'd come here for us."  
  
Kale nodded. "Let's see if we can chase them off. Everyone remember our plan?" When he got nods from everyone but Spiny, he continued. "Good, let's go."  
  
  
  
Okay, a bunch of stuff. First, I need a new name for Spiny, really badly. Personally I think it sounds dumb, but I couldn't think of anything better.  
  
Secondly, I'm not certain whether this will take place during season two or three, any votes? I'm leaning towards season three right now.  
  
Along the lines of the first question, everyone is going to probably need code names, any suggestions? I have a few things in mind, but I'm not sure I like them. The Dripper is not a goos codename for Dorian, but it was the first one that came to mind, and now I can think of anything else.  
  
Next, is anyone reading this? Let me know, I don't think I'll continue if no one is. The only reason I'm writing this is to get the little demons of inspiration to leave me alone, and to get these characters that have been rattling around in my head, out for good. :-P  
  
As for the whole romance thing that seems to be so popular these days, this will either be Kitty/Kurt or Kitty/Lance, who knows? Haven't made up my mind yet.  
  
And lastly, why does everyone seem to think that Kitty is some sort of popular airhead? She's a nerd, and she never had many friends, re-watch X- Impulse, I'm serious. 


	2. Something Doesn't Smell Right

For the sake of this story, I'm going to assume that Cerebro has limited range.  
  
Thank you to everyone who reviewed, all five of you =P Almost everyone seems to be including their favorite characters in their reviews, so I think I'll start a contest. Which LH character is your favorite? Lol, I think Wen is winning.  
  
By the way, since I forgot to disclaim this in the first chapter, I hereby disclaim this work of fiction, nothing is mine, except for the stuff I made up.  
  
Earlier  
  
Kurt flopped down onto his bed and buried his head in his pillow. It had been a hard day. Now everyone knew that he was with the mutants. They didn't know that he was covered in blue fur, he planned to keep that to himself for as long as possible, but just knowing that he went to the Institute was enough to get him ostracized by most of the other students.  
  
No one knowing who he really was, what he really was, had been one of the best things that had ever happened to him. Now that was all gone and everyone knew, not just about him, but about them.  
  
And now Amanda wanted him to stop wearing the image inducer. She just didn't understand why he couldn't do that.  
  
The professor said that this would be one of the greatest tests of their integrity and self-control. They had to make themselves into a model so that the rest of the country, no, the world would learn that there was nothing to fear from mutants.  
  
Which wasn't entirely true, they would, should learn that there was nothing to fear from /them/, Magneto and his sidekicks were another matter entirely.  
  
Kurt rolled over and stared up at the ceiling. He had a feeling it was going to get a lot worse before it got better, but they would hold through, they had to. But... but now Evan was gone, after the incident with the Power-8, and Rahne and Jubilee had gone back home after everything blew up, figuratively and literally, and Rogue wasn't in good shape. Sometimes it felt as if they were falling apart.  
  
At least they'd almost finished rebuilding. That was a meager improvement, but at least he was back in his own room. Or rather one identical to his old one. Except now there was no Evan, and for some reason that made all the difference. He wondered how long it would take him to get a new roommate.  
  
At least it was Friday.  
  
He yanked off his watch and plopped it on the bedside table. He lay there for a while, examining one three-fingered, fur covered, paw, until a mental message from the professor disturbed him.  
  
/Scott, Jean, Kurt, please come down to the library. There is something I need to talk to you about./  
  
"Vonder vhat thiz iz about," he mumbled to himself.  
  
Kurt pulled himself up from his bed. He looked around the room for a long moment, particularly at the empty second bed. He shook his head, trying to clear it and than arranged his face into his normal carefree grin, and teleported.  
  
When he reappeared in the library, he found that the Professor was there, along with Wolverine and Storm, who were in costume. Before Kurt could ask what this was all about, Scott and Jean walked through the library doors, holding hands. The moment they noticed everyone was looking at them, they quickly let go. The corner of Storm's mouth went up for a moment. Kurt made a mental note to tease them about it later.  
  
"Yeah, Professor?" Scott said as he and Jean sat down on the couch. Kurt jumped up and perched himself on one of the chairs.  
  
"There is a matter I wish to discuss with you all," the Professor began. "Earlier today, while I was making final repairs to Cerebro, I received an unusual reading. Cerebro's range is somewhat limited, and it cannot get overly detailed readings at very great distances. I did however pick up a very brief reading of a mutant powers being used somewhere in Washington state.  
  
"At first I discounted this as a systems glitch, but within the next few minutes, Cerebro picked up two more."  
  
"Two more readings? From the same mutant?" Scott asked, looking interested.  
  
"No, two more mutants. The readings were quite different."  
  
"Do you think it could be Magneto?" Kurt asked.  
  
"Yes, it is a possibility, however, I don't think Magneto and his new recruits would allow themselves to be detected so easily. You must recall that they have manged to avoid detection for an extended period of time. It would be very much unlike Magneto to allow himself to be so easily discovered." The Professor looked pensive for a while.  
  
"Unless they think that Cerebro is still off-line," Jean pointed out, reasonably.  
  
"Once again, it is a possibility, but I do not think it is likely. It seems to me that we have some other gathering of mutants on our hands. Which is why I called you here. I would like to send a representative group of X-Men to investigate."  
  
"Vonderbar! Vhen do ve leave?" Kurt exclaimed jumping up.  
  
"Actually Kurt, that wasn't why I called /you/ here. Storm, Wolverine, Scott, and Jean will be going," the Professor told him, turning to look at Kurt.  
  
"Oh, bummer," was all Kurt could say. That seriously wasn't fair. He wanted to go along on the trip, but of course sending the Fuzzy One, probably wasn't the best tactic if you're looking for more recruits. /Better not scare them away,/ he though angrily to himself, and than stopped, hoping the Professor wasn't reading his thoughts.  
  
If he was, the Professor didn't show any outward signs. "As I will be working on Cerebro, and Rogue is still recovering from her ordeal, you will be the oldest remaining X-Man. I am asking you, Kurt, to help Mr. McCoy with the students. We are all going through a rough period, and I would like to know that I can trust you with this." After he finished talking, the Professor watched Kurt for a few moments, expectedly. Scott was trying to hide amusement, Wolverine just shook his head.  
  
Kurt blinked a few times. He hadn't expected that at all. At his apparent surprise, Jean developed a small smile. He knew what this meant, the Professor was not only asking him to behave, but also putting him in a position of authority. He'd love a chance to rub this into Kitty's face. He grinned. "Yes sir!"  
  
The Professor nodded, "Scott, Jean, suit up, you'll be taking the Velocity."  
  
^~^~^~^~^~^  
  
"According to the coordinates the Professor gave us, we should be nearing the location now," Storm said, glancing towards Wolverine, who was doing the piloting.  
  
"I'll start looking for a place to set down," he growled as he began to lower their altitude.  
  
Jean sat in the back next to Scott. She was leaning comfortably against his shoulder. Night had already begun to fall in the time it had taken them to get this far, and since they were heading towards an earlier time zone, it meant that it was very late in New York already. The news that they were nearing their destination was welcome.  
  
"Do you sense anything yet, Jean?" Storm asked from the front.  
  
Jean put her hands to the sides of her head and tried to concentrate, he movement disturbing Scott from his nap. "No, nothing yet. I'll try again after we land."  
  
Storm nodded to her and and settled back into her seat.  
  
Scott stretched and looked out the window. "Wow, check out the view, amazing,"he said to Jean.  
  
She leaned over to have a look. Below them thick forest stretched out in every direction. In the darkening twilight the whole scene was bathed in bluish light, giving it an eerie ambiance.  
  
"Yeah, it's beautiful," she said, wistfully.  
  
He wrapped his arms around her shoulders as they watched the sun finish setting. Jean sighed. It felt nice, sitting here for a short time at least, peaceful. The old 'calm before the storm' cliché came to mind, which took on a distinctly weird meaning with Storm sitting in the front seat.  
  
"That looks promising," Wolverine said as he guided the craft downwards towards a small clearing.  
  
Jean sighed and pulled herself away from Scott as Wolverine completed the landing sequence and lowered the exit ramp. /So much for that./  
  
They stepped into the cooler air of early fall in Washington. In Bayville it had still been as warm as summer, here the leave were already changing color. As Jean stepped out of the Velocity, she attempted to sense the mutants that were suppose to be here.  
  
"Anything?" Storm asked.  
  
"I'm getting a vague sense from off in that direction," she said, pointing to the East. "But I can't tell you much more than that.  
  
"What do you think? Split up?" Scott asked. "We'll cover more ground that way."  
  
Wolverine sniffed at the air a second. "Better not, if it /is/ Magneto and his cronies. Lets not make this easy for them." He kept sniffing at the air for a while. "Besides, something doesn't smell right."  
  
^~^~^~^~^~^  
  
"Please let me go with you!" Dorian pleaded to Kale's retreating back.  
  
Kale groaned to himself. The kid didn't know when to give up. He turned to look back at Dorian. Everyone else was ready to go, except for Nena, who was crouching miserably by the fire. Dorian was looking at Kale with big blue puppy-dog eyes. Strands of wet hair falling over that expression made him look particularly dejected. Kale steeled himself.  
  
"No, and that's final," Kale winced at that. He'd sounded just like one of the foster parents that had taken care of him before he'd met Wen. He tried to soften his voice. "Look, we need you to stay here and take care of Nena. She's the youngest and she needs someone to look after her. That's important, okay?"  
  
Dorian nodded, still looking dejected. Kale could tell Dorian knew exactly what he had been trying to do, and as such, hadn't been particularly cheered, but he also knew when he couldn't win.  
  
Kale turned to follow the older kids. Laurie was leading, she seemed to know the way. She had said earlier that they'd have to go quite a ways. Kale didn't mind so much. Just visiting town was a three day affair, a short walk didn't bother him.  
  
"Come on, Kale!" Wen called out to him, while tucking his flute into the back of his belt. "Lets go kick some mutant hunting ass!"  
  
Kale reflected on how silly that sounded coming from Wen as he joined his friends. Wen, at a boyish 5' 5", was one of the least intimidating people he knew. Of course appearances could be deceiving, but even knowing that Wen could probably knock him on his butt with a gust of wind, didn't make it any less funny.  
  
Wen noticed Kale smirking and frowned. "Are you laughing at me? Are you laughing at me?" he asked in a perfect accent, playing the lines for all they were worth. "Am I here for your amusement? Do you think I was placed here to make you laugh?"  
  
Kale laughed, unable to stop himself at the false serious look on Wen's face, earning him a reproving look from Nick. If there was one thing he really missed about living in the city, it was watching movies with Wen.  
  
"Maybe we can just talk to them, get them to leave us alone," Athena suggested. She didn't sound too convinced that it was a possibility, but she hated violence, they all knew that.  
  
"What are we going to tell them?" Kale asked, his thoughts turning serious again. "You heard what Laurie said, they're looking for us. That means they've got to know. What would they possibly listen to from us?"  
  
"'I am not an animal! I am a human being!'" Wen quoted, grinning.  
  
"How about, 'I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna to take it anymore.'" Kale suggested seriously.  
  
"You two watch way too many movies," Athena said, carefully stepping down a slope.  
  
"Well what else were we suppose to do with our time?"  
  
"How about read a book?" That was greeted with silence and Athena sighed. "Never mind."  
  
Ahead of them Laurie came to a ribbon of water. While too small to be a river, it was too big to be a stream. She stopped and looked backwards toward the rest of them, waiting for them to catch up.  
  
"Too bad we left Dorian behind," Wen said jokingly. "He could have parted the waters for us, like mini-Moses or something."  
  
Spiny just bounded through the stream, and Athena had to jump out of the way to avoid being splashed.  
  
Nick brushed passed the them, walking to Laurie's side.  
  
"Dude," Wen said, as Nick walked passed Athena. "Yin and Yang."  
  
He was right, Nick seemed to be darkness to Athena's light.  
  
Kale watched Nick carefully. Upon reaching the water's edge, he put out an hand to Laurie who accepted. He wrapped his arms around her. The two of them seemed to become engulfed by some sort of black shadow-like mist. They disappeared downwards into the shadows at their feet, and then reappeared, rising out of the darkness on the other side of stream.  
  
"Showoff," Kale mumbled.  
  
Wen grinned. "I'll show you showoff."  
  
The burst of wind that caught the three of them and yanked them across the water wasn't entirely unexpected, but that didn't make it any less disconcerting, or the landing any less rough.  
  
"You have got to work on your reentry, and I thought you said you thought you could use that to fly? That was a little rough for flying," Kale grumbled.  
  
"'Fly yes, land no,'" came Wen's muffled voice from within a bush.  
  
"Please, both of you, this is important, try to be more serious," Athena said, standing up and brushing dead leaves off the tattered edges of her dress.  
  
"Being serious will get you nothing but unsightly nose hair," Wen declared, fighting free of the foliage. Athena gave him a look that was probably a glare, but it was hard to tell with her eyes.  
  
"I think, that you should all know that we are very close, and perhaps you should all be a little more quiet," Laurie said from a bit farther ahead.  
  
"Great, lets get this over with," Kale began and then stopped, eyes widening with shock.  
  
"Where's Spiny?"  
  
  
  
The movie quotes came from Goodfellas, Network, Elephant Man, and Indiana Jones.  
  
That was fun. Um yeah, I'll see you next time, and don't forget to write a review and tell me who your favorite character is. Or something. 


	3. One Heck of a Fight

Wow, fourteen reviews, that's more than I expected. Thanks to all of you.  
  
And thanks to TheKiwiKid, Quill is a great name for Spiny, now I just have to figure out a way to work that in... As for your question, I'm not really sure who's the most powerful. I suppose in combat Athena is the least powerful, but that's not saying much. Nick might be, except his strength changes depending on his environment, and I won't tell you anymore about some of the other characters, cause that would ruin the surprise. ;-)  
  
Anyways, here we go...  
  
  
  
Wolverine continued to sniff the air as they progressed in the direction that Jean had indicated. Storm took the lead, hovering in the air to get a better view, the two kids came next, carrying flashlights, and he pulled up the rear. They seemed more interested in each other than their surroundings. /Kids/, Logan thought with vehemence. They shouldn't let them selves get distracted so easily, he was certain that something here wasn't right. The smell was unfamiliar, and that bothered him.  
  
He swung his head suddenly to the left, hearing something move in the bushes. He growled softly, he could smell it clearly now. It wasn't like anything he had ever smelled before. It was vaguely human, but covered with the more powerful smell of a feral animal.  
  
The leaves shifted again and he saw a pair of reflective cat-like eyes staring at him. He continued waking, keeping an watch on the thing out of the corner of his eye. The leaves just barely rustled as it moved, stalking them. If he hadn't smelled it earlier, he might not have noticed it at all. Up ahead, Storm stopped, and turned around, alerting Cyclopes and Jean.  
  
"Logan, is something wrong?" she asked. At the sound of her voice, the movement in the bushes stopped altogether.  
  
"To the left, in the underbrush. It's big, whatever it is, and it's been stalking us for the last fifteen minutes," he told them, still testing the air.  
  
"Where?" Cyclopes asked, swinging his flashlight towards the bushes before Logan could warn him not to.  
  
The beam illuminated yellow cat-eyes, shining through the leaves, but only for a moment before the thing came barreling out into the open. They all got their first good look at it.  
  
It crouched on all fours, ready to attack. The thing wore clothing, but it was badly tattered. Long black and white quills sprouted from its head and back, and its paws ended in long, deadly looking claws. It growled at them, showing massive white fangs, and the quills stood up on end, like an angry cat's fur.  
  
"One of the mutants?" Storm asked as they regarded each other.  
  
"Can't think of what else it could be," Logan said, extending his claws.  
  
"She," Jean said, stepping forward. "It's a girl." She walked forward slowly, to stand in front of Wolverine.  
  
"Jean," he said. "I don't think that's a good idea."  
  
"It's alright," Jean said, crouching down and extending her hand. "We won't hurt you." It stepped forward, sniffing the air. Its features were almost human, but held a distinctly animalistic cast. The eyes were too large and slanted, it had a cat's button nose, and a fine fringe of fur encircled the edges of its face.  
  
"It's alright, come here," Jean continued in a sooting tone of voice. It, /she/, Logan amended, pulled back, growling again.  
  
"We won't hurt you," Jean repeated. Without warning the thing hissed at them and charged.  
  
"Out of the way!" Logan yelled, pushing Jean down just as the thing slammed into him. It knocked him over, clawing at his face and arms. He could have sworn he felt his claws dig into its flesh. He heard Cyclopes swear, and then an electric sound, and the creature was lifted off of him. He got back to his feet as quickly as he could, feeling blood begin to pour from gashes in his arm before they healed.  
  
Storm was standing with one hand upraised, looking at the creature. Cyclopes had one hand on his visor watching it as it began to right itself. It shook off Storm's attack and got right back to its feet, miraculously unharmed.  
  
"Don't hurt her!" Jean called out, getting up.  
  
It crouched low to the ground and began to walk sideways, circling. It leaped at them again, and this time Cyclopes caught it in the chest with an optic blast. It was pushed backwards only a few inches and was otherwise unharmed.  
  
"Jean, I don't think we /can/ hurt her," Cyclopes said.  
  
It attacked Logan, who was the closest, again. He slashed out with his claws and it blocked, /with its arm/.  
  
"What the?" Logan yelled  
  
His claws didn't harm the thing at all, it just pulled itself up to its hind legs and hissed in his face. Its breath smelled like mashed potatoes.  
  
Suddenly the thing was lifted backwards and slammed into a tree. The sharp spines on its back dug through the bark and into the wood, leaving it suspended. Logan turned around, Jean was standing behind him, her hands to the sides of her head, eyes locked on the creature. As he watched she lowered them to her sides and turned to him.  
  
"Are you alright?" she asked, talking over the creatures hysteric screeching and growling as it found itself unable to get down.  
  
"Nothing serious," he replied, walking over to inspect his attacker. It growled and clawed at the air.  
  
"Jean, can you get anything from it?" Storm asked, approaching.  
  
Jean moved a little bit closer, and shook her head. "Nothing, she's too excited, all I can feel is her anger. She's only a child, though I can't be certain how old exactly." Jean pursed her lips. "I don't think she even knows for sure."  
  
It had calmed down slightly, and was now watching them all, its animal eyes filled with malice. Jean reached out slightly, letting her hand get a little too close as she tried to establish a bond with the creature. Quick as lightening, it lashed out at her, raking its claws over her hand. Jean yelped and pulled her arm back.  
  
"Jean!" Scott yelled, and ran forward to her side, taking her hand in his. It had scratched her deeply. Logan looked back at it, it looked extremely self-satisfied.  
  
"I'll be alright," Jean told him while trying to stop the flow of blood.  
  
"We are going to have to find a way to restrain her if we want to get her back to the Institute," Storm said, coming to inspect Jean's wound.  
  
"I think I..." Jean began, but was cut off by a sudden, powerful, blast of wind.  
  
They all staggered back, trying to maintain their footing against the sudden onslaught.  
  
"I don't think so!" Storm yelled, sending her own blast of wind in the opposite direction. They heard a yelp as someone went flying backwards, soon followed by a loud crash.  
  
Before any of them had the chance to get their barrings, something struck Logan across the back, hard. He staggered forward and turned to face his unseen attacker. There wasn't anyone there.  
  
"Eh?" he said, looking to both sides. Whatever it was, it hit him again, this time in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.  
  
"Telekinesis?" Scott asked, before he was struck on the head by the unseen force, sending him sprawling.  
  
Jean dropped down to help him. She frowned into the darkness. "Not telekinesis." She used her own telekinetic powers to lift some debris off the forest floor and send it flying outwards.  
  
The dirt and leaves stuck to translucent, human looking figure. It stopped running and staggered, dropping something unseen object that became a tree branch the moment it left the figure's grasp.  
  
"Got ya'!" Logan growled, grabbing the figure by the front of a now semi- translucent shirt and lifting it off the ground. It struggled, and then shimmered, becoming a teenage boy with long, metallic silver hair. The boy narrowed gray eyes at Logan and tried to kick him.  
  
A second blast of wind hit them, and Storm turned away to deal with it.  
  
Logan held the boy out at arms length, the kid was surprisingly light. He ineffectively kept trying to kick Logan, who just unsheathed one claw from the fist that holding the kid. The boy quit struggling the moment he felt the metal against his chin.  
  
Logan grinned at him. "Do ya' feel lucky, bub?"  
  
The boy looked at him in disgust. "That's 'do ya' feel lucky,/punk/.'"  
  
Shouts from Jean and Scott drew Logan's attention away. They were being attacked by some sort of black mist, it looked like darkness given physical form. Scott fired several optic blasts at it and the mist shied away, fading into the ground.  
  
Logan felt a stab of sharp pain in his leg and dropped the kid, who was invisible again before he even hit the ground. Logan cursed and looked down to see what was attacking him and found himself looking at... a teddy bear with a butcher's knife. That was so utterly outside of Logan's realm of experience that all he could do for a moment was stare at it. The teddy bear raised the knife for another stab and Logan punted it into the nearest bush.  
  
He looked over at Storm, who had a small Asian kid wrapped up in what looked like a miniature tornado. Jean and Scott were walking back towards her, looking somewhat worse for the wear. As they approached the shadows behind them grew darker. Logan squinted, he didn't smell anything. All of a sudden the darkness coalesced into a demonic, vaguely humanoid form. It reared up behind Scott, curling tendrils of darkness reaching out towards him.  
  
"Cyclopes! Behind you!" Logan yelled, too late.  
  
Scott turned, reaching for his visor, but as he did the shadows crashed down around him, and pulled him into the ground.  
  
"Scott!" Jean shrieked. She ran to the patch of earth where he had been standing. The unnatural shadows were completely gone now, and so was Scott.  
  
"I can't sense him!" Jean said, her voice on the edge of hysteria. "He's just not there, gone!"  
  
"Jean, calm down and concentra... ouff!" Storm started to speak, but then staggered under an invisible blow. Her control over the whirlwind prison seemed to weaken. The boy struggled and broke free, falling to ground, his landing buffered by air. He levitated, this time in a whirlwind of his own creation.  
  
Storm levitated herself, out of the range of the invisible attacks, needing no whirlwind to accomplish it. "You learn quickly, but we don't have to do this," she said.  
  
The boy sneered at her. "Yeah, right, I'll believe that when..."  
  
"Stop fighting!"  
  
Everyone turned to look at where the voice had come from. A slender brown haired girl came bursting through the underbrush. Unfortunately for her, her path took her straight between Whirlwind Boy and Storm. She was lifted off her feet and slammed into a nearby tree, where she lay, completely still. Everyone seemed to draw breath at the same moment, and an unfamiliar male voice yelled, "No!"  
  
A second later another girl came running out of the same segment of trees. This one, however, noticed the swirling winds and stopped. She stood there, pushing chalk-white hair out of her face, trying to find a way around.  
  
Logan and Jean both started towards the fallen child, but the dark mist came up out of the ground in front of her. This time, however, it became a pale boy in a trench coat, who rushed to the girl's side. He touched her forehead and she stirred and opened her eyes. She put her hand to her head, then looked around at everyone.  
  
"Please stop fighting," she begged. That plea, as sad as it sounded had a profound effect on everyone involved.  
  
Whirlwind Boy stopped whatever it was he was doing. The wind dissipated and he dropped to the ground. The instant the winds were gone, the white- haired girl ran passed him and to the other girl's side. Storm descended, somewhat more gracefully than her younger counterpart, and walked over to the injured girl. The invisible boy became visible again and ran over to the others. The spine-backed thing stopped howling.  
  
The white-haired girl placed her hand on the injured girl's head. As they watched a fine trickle of blood that had been escaping from her just above her hairline, retraced its path and disappeared. She struggled to her feet.  
  
"Please don't fight, they aren't here to capture us or hurt us," she said, her voice trembling. "They want to help us, they're from a school."  
  
The Asian boy blinked. "Help us? Are you sure?" She gave him a look and he raised his hands in surrender. "Right, sorry, stupid question."  
  
"I don't believe that! I heard them talking, they said something about taking Spiny to an 'institute'" Invisible boy yelled.  
  
"You misunderstood, we are here to recruit you, not fight you," Storm told them. "We are from the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, a school for mutants."  
  
"Well maybe we don't want to be recruited," the boy sneered.  
  
"What happened to..." Jean began, she obviously had other concerns.  
  
"Nick," the brow-haired girl interrupted, looking towards the boy in the trench coat.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Let him go."  
  
The boy just shrugged and gestured. Black mist swirled in the air, several feet above the ground, and Scott fell out, landing onto the grass and leaves with a thump. Jean rushed to him and knelt beside him. He was shivering madly.  
  
The black-haired boy grinned, an unpleasant sight, Logan instantly distrusted him. "Sorry, sometimes I forget that not everyone is as comfortable in there as I am."  
  
Logan sniffed at him and smelled... nothing. He didn't have a scent.  
  
The white haired girl looked around, snorted and started talking before anyone else could say anything. "Well since you're all now done with this impressive bit of stupidity, I am going to do what I can to clean up the mess." She walked to Jean and Scott, knelt beside them and touched the side of Scott's face. He stopped shivering and looked up at Jean, becoming aware of his surroundings again.  
  
"What happened?" he asked, but the girl started talking again before anyone could explain.  
  
She turned to Jean. "Give me your hand," she said, putting out her own expectantly. Before Jean could respond or protest the girl snatched her injured hand and pressed her fingers onto it. The blood vanished, absorbed back into Jean's skin, and the cuts sealed.  
  
"Thank you," Jean said, somewhat shocked, looking at the girl's eyes.  
  
The girl smiled. "You're welcome." She got to her feet and walked over to Logan.  
  
"I'm fine," he growled before she could get close to him.  
  
"You have blood all over your arms."  
  
"I'm fine!"  
  
She didn't balk, even when he glared at her, she just crossed her arms and stared at him. She smelled stubborn Much to his annoyance, he could smell everyone else's rising amusement. He snarled at her, and then blinked, noticing her sightless eyes.  
  
"Don't give me that look. What do you want to bet I can see better than you can?" she asked. She sounded exasperated.  
  
Logan didn't know what to think. She was either very brave, or downright stupid. Seeing that she wasn't going to leave him alone until she was certain he wasn't injured, he held out his arm.  
  
"It's healed," he said simply.  
  
She looked at his arm and then back at him without the slightest hint of embarrassment. "So it is," she said, walking off and leaving Logan feeling more confused than he had in years.  
  
"Oh yes," she said, walking over to some underbrush. "Before I forget." She reached into the bushes and grabbed something, or rather someone, judging by the yelping noises. Make that two someones. She dragged two children out by their ears. One was a boy who looked about twelve, maybe younger, with sopping wet hair. The other was a little black girl with two short, stiff, braids that stuck out from the sides of her head. She was holding a teddy bear, a very familiar teddy bear. She hugged it and look at Logan, somewhat guiltily, who held back the impulse to growl.  
  
The white haired girl looked down at them. "You didn't really think you could hide from me, did you?" she asked. They didn't respond.  
  
"How long have you two been hiding there?" Invisible Boy demanded.  
  
"Oh they've been there since this ill-conceived fight started," the white haired girl said. "Speaking of which, I believe we have something to discuss, them," she gestured to the two children, "included."  
  
Storm nodded. "I believe we do."  
  
"We don't want to go to your 'institute', and that's final!" Invisible boy said, crossing his arms.  
  
"What?," Scott asked, "Do you plan to stay here? Through the winter? You won't survive."  
  
"We'll manage. We'll go down to the towns if we have to."  
  
"And if someone recognizes you as mutants? What then?" Scott asked, stepping over to the other boy.  
  
The boy looked up at Scott, seemingly not impressed by his size. "What are the chances of that happening?" he scoffed.  
  
"Better than you think." Scott looked around at all the people gathered. "Where have you been the past few weeks? The secret is out. Everyone knows about mutants, and some of them have made it a point to make our lives miserable."  
  
Logan gazed around at their faces filled with shock and dismay. That had been a punch to the gut for all of them, all except for the brown-haired girl, who just nodded.  
  
"If for no other reason, than do it for them," Jean said, gesturing towards the children. "They'll be able to get an education, you can't provide that for them out here."  
  
The boy looked like he was wavering.  
  
"Hey Kale," the Asian boy said. "Old man never said anything about not trusting other mutants." He glanced at Storm. "I think we could learn a lot." Storm smiled at him and nodded.  
  
The invisible boy, Kale, looked around at the others. "Laurie? Nick?"  
  
The brown-haired girl smiled. "I think we should go with them."  
  
"If Laurie says they're trustworthy, then that's good enough for me."  
  
"Wen? Athena?"  
  
"Lets go for it, why not?"  
  
"I think it would be best for Nena and Dorian."  
  
Kale glanced down at the two kids and sighed. "Do I even need to ask?" The two of them smiled an shook their heads. "Majority rules then," he said, turning to Scott and Jean. He sounded resined "We'll go with you."  
  
"Merrooow!"  
  
"Um, could someone get Spiny off that tree?"  
  
"Is she coming as well?"  
  
"Of course. Err, that is, if she wants to."  
  
"That was one heck of a fight."  
  
"Tell me about it."  
  
"Hey, Athena, I've got some bruises you could heal."  
  
"You look fine to me, Wen."  
  
  
  
I'm done, big bunch of sorrys about the delay. Looks like Wen is still winning the popularity contest. That's cause he's so cool. BTW I changed the category to drama/humor, seems I just can't stay serious. =P 


	4. Someone Always Has it Worse

Hello again! From now one I'm going to try to update this story every other day because it's the end of the semester and I'm getting lots of school work. I'd wanted to write another chapter everyday, but I guess I'm just not that fast at writing.  
  
Okay, you might have notice that I've changed the category from action/adventure/drama to drama/humor, since I'm trying to keep this lighthearted. It's not going to be over the top like a lot of fiction I've seen under the humor category, I'm trying to keep a nice mixture of drama and comedy, sort of like the Evo cartoon itself.  
  
Big thanks to Talentless for the link, it's been a big help with developing Spiny's character.  
  
  
  
Jean settled into her seat in the Velocity, which was now far more crowded than it had been when they had left. It had just begun to dawn on her exactly how many new recruits they had found. She'd expected three or so from what the Professor had told them, not /eight/.  
  
They had just returned from a trip to the cabin where they had been living in order to retrieve their few possessions. In the relative darkness of the forest she hadn't realized exactly how badly tattered their clothing was. The cabin itself was in a poor state of disrepair. It looked like the sort of building that state parks rented out to vacationing families for the summer, but this one was dilapidated beyond use. Part of the roof had collapsed in at some point in the distant past, leavening only two usable rooms. Both of those rooms had piles of blankets in them which Jean assumed were used as beds. There wasn't very much else, aside from a large metal basin with a few bars of discount soap and some other toiletries next to it and a small store of food. An dirt path leading away into the forest might at some point been a road. When questioned, one of the boys had told her it lead to the nearest town, but it was mostly blocked off by fallen trees.  
  
Once they had made it back to the Velocity, it was past midnight and the younger members of their entourage were starting to show the strain. They hadn't taken much with them, a few changes of clothing, all as badly tattered as the ones they wore, and between them a few small personal items; a few books, a folder full of sketches, some stuffed animals.  
  
/This isn't anyway fro those two children to live,/ Jean had thought to herself as she watched them scamper about the camp. /This isn't anyway for anyone to live./  
  
Now she glanced around the interior of the Velocity, scanning faces and trying to remember names. The razor backed creature was indeed a girl, the others called her Spiny, and while Jean hadn't gotten a chance to really read her mind, she was certain that wasn't her real name. The two children were Nena and Dorian. It struck Jean at how young Nena was to have developed her powers, though she still was uncertain as to what those powers were. She had a vague impression that Logan had some idea.  
  
Dorian looked about eleven or twelve. His fingers were webbed, and the vertical slats on his neck looked like gills. His hair was blue and and his skin had a bluish tinge to it. For some reason his hair had been wet when he'd first appeared, and still was, showing no signs of beginning to dry.  
  
The alarmingly pale girl who had healed Jean's hand was named Athena. She was sitting in between Nena and Dorian, who were leaning on her as they dozed. Her eyes were closed, but Jean suspected that it didn't make any difference to her. Her posture was oddly ridged, making her resemble a marble statue. Jean thought she would be sitting stiffly as well if she had someone else's hair was dripping down her shoulder. Spiny was sleeping at Athena's feet.  
  
Spiny had been hostile just after Jean had used her telekinesis to pull her down from the tree, but had warmed up to them surprisingly quickly after the others had made in clear to her that they were friends now. What had alarmed Jean the most was that Spiny's behavior was almost dog-like, she seemed to lack any more human behaviors. She walked on all fours, moved and stretched like a cat, and when she lay down to nap, she curled up like an animal. Jean also noticed that her quadrupedal movement was somewhat awkward since her back legs were longer that her arms. This made her move with her head lower that back end, and only seemed possible because she had a more animal, digitigrade bone structure in her back feet and legs, similar to Kurt's.  
  
The question that weighed on Jean's mind the most was whether her behavior was a by product of her mutation, or of her environment, and would it be possible for her to ever attend school, or lead something resembling a normal life. She would have to ask the Professor. Spiny's mind was proving remarkably difficult to read at all, everything Jean got from her was muddled, more often in the form of images or sensations rather then words or feelings like most people's minds.  
  
In front of Athena sat Kale, the guy that had confronted them, and the only one that was against leaving. He seemed to be the closest thing that this group of mutants had to a leader. In the darkness his hair had looked metallic, like liquid silver, but now, it looked like spun glass, reflecting the light so weirdly it gave Jean eye strain. A side effect of his invisibility mutation no doubt, as the effect was very similar to how he had looked right before he had appeared. He looked about seventeen or so, and stood at average hight with a lean build.  
  
Across the aisle, the brown haired girl who had stopped them from fighting sat next to the pale boy in black. The girl, whose name Jean couldn't remember, had a pleasant, gentle look to her. She looked slightly younger than Kale, perhaps sixteen or so. Jean attempted to get some sort of mental reading from her in the hopes of finding out how she had known that they had come from the Institute and couldn't. It felt like she was slamming herself into a metal wall. The girl didn't notice. Jean assumed that she possessed some sort of telepathic ability, which apparently included the ability to shield her mind from other telepaths.  
  
The mutant sitting next to the telepathic girl had black hair and disturbing black eyes. He was the one who had attacked Scott, and for that reason Jean immediately had to fight back a dislike of him. It didn't help that his presence made her feel uneasy, but she resolved to give him an equal chance. Jean couldn't even begin to understand what his ability was exactly, but it seemed to involve the manipulation of a dark, mist-like, substance that looked remarkably like shadows, and from what Scott had told her of his experience, the ability to open some sort of portal.  
  
Jean glanced at the last member of the group. The boy who could control wind looked the most, well, normal of the group, and the friendliest. He was holding the folder he had retrieved from the camp open and drawing inside. He had the lightened brown hair that seemed so popular among Asian boys lately, and a pleasant face.  
  
He looked up at her, noticing her attention, and smiled.  
  
"What are you drawing?" Jean asked him.  
  
He blushed slightly and held the folder up so she could see. "I hope you don't mind," he said. Inside the folder was a pencil sketch of her.  
  
"That's very good, may I see it?" Jean asked him. Next to her Scott turned to see what was happening as the younger mutant came to sit down next to them.  
  
"What was your name again?" she asked him as he handed her the sketch.  
  
"Oh, I'm Wen-Ru, but everyone just calls me Wen. What about you two?"  
  
"I'm Jean," she told him, introducing herself. "And this is Scott." Jean looked at the picture he had drawn. It was simple, but he managed to create an amazing likeness.  
  
"Wow, that's pretty good," Scott said, looking at the portrait of Jean, his voice touched by the slightest ting of jealousy.  
  
Wen seemed to notice this because he smiled mischievously. "You can have it if you want," he said to Scott, still smiling.  
  
Scott looked surprised for a second, then embarrassed, and then grateful. Jean wasn't quite able to keep herself from smiling at his reaction. He seemed to notice that Wen had chosen a subtle way of letting him know, that despite the portrait, he wasn't a threat.  
  
"Thanks," Scott said taking the picture and looking at it when Jean was done with it.  
  
"I gotta say I'm impressed, didn't expect you guys to have a... whatever this thing is. You guys must have some major funding for a school, but, uh just one question," Wen said shuffling through some of the other papers.  
  
"Yes, what's that?" Jean asked, she didn't need telepathy to know where this was going.  
  
"What's up with the costumes?"  
  
"The school is also the home base of our organization, the X-Men."  
  
"So... what? Like superheros or something?"  
  
Jean hesitated for a second and Scott answered for her. "Yeah, something like that."  
  
"Cool, I always wanted to be a superhero." At the looks they gave him he just shrugged. "Hey, what kid doesn't?"  
  
^~^~^~^~^~^  
  
"Kurt! Like, wake up!"  
  
Kurt groaned and shoved his head under his pillow. Someone was nudging him. Why wouldn't they just let him sleep? He was exhausted after yesterday. What had ever possessed him to agree to help Mr McCoy with the younger students? Where did they find all that energy? Especially Jamie. It had been bad enough helping keep track of just one of him, but seven? That was too much even for him.  
  
"Kurt! It's, like, already after ten!"  
  
"Keetty? Is that you?" He hadn't even gotten a chance to rub it in Kitty's face.  
  
"Of course it's me!" she yelled, giving him a push that sent him rolling off the side of his bed.  
  
Kurt lay on the ground staring up at the ceiling. Suddenly Kitty's face came sideways into his field of view. She was sitting on top of his bed, leaning over the side and grinning at him.  
  
"Awake yet, Fuzzy? And here I though you were the morning person."  
  
Kurt groaned again. "Keetty, vhat's the big deal?"  
  
"The Professor wants everyone down in the foyer, like, right away. He's got something important to tell us," she was grinning at him in the most annoying way. Normally he liked it when Kitty smiled at him, but today, he was willing to make an exception.  
  
Oh, that was perfect, first the professor inflicts play time with the kiddies on him, and then he sends Kitty to wake him up. At least he could still get some fun out of this.  
  
"New mutants, right?" he asked, nonchalantly, standing up.  
  
"Whoa? What? Where'd you hear that?" Kitty asked jumping off the bed.  
  
"Eh, yesterday, Professor X said Cerebro picked up three mutant signatures in Washington," he told he as he walked over to his nightstand, picked up a glass of water and dumped some of it on his face.  
  
"DC?"  
  
"No, state."  
  
"Why didn't you tell me?" she demanded, hands on her hips.  
  
"I vas kind of busy," he told her sarcastically. "Anyvay, that's vhere evervone vent yesterday."  
  
"Oh, that is, like so cool. I wonder what they'll be like?" she watched Kurt walked over to his closet and pull out some fresh clothing. "Oh, don't tell me you're not excited."  
  
"Keetty, right now, I am a leettle tired for 'exited', try me again later," he told her giving her a push out and closing the door so he could change.  
  
When he emerged, buckling his hologram watch on, she was waiting next to his door.  
  
"Uh, Kurt, I don't think you're going to need..." she said, tapering off. When he didn't say anything, she just shrugged.  
  
Kurt just yawned as his real body was replaced by a holographic images of a perfectly normal teenage boy.  
  
"Wow, you're actually taking the stairs. Why don't you just like, bamf," she asked him.  
  
Kurt smiled at her. "Too tired for bamf."  
  
Kitty stopped and stared at him for a second. "Well that's a first," she said.  
  
"Vhy don't you just phase through the floor?"  
  
"Don't want to land on anyone."  
  
"Vhy not? Vouldn't hurt zem or anything, and imagine the looks on zeir faces."  
  
"Don't want to give anyone a heart attack either."  
  
"Ah, goot point."  
  
They stopped at the top of the landing and looked down. The X-Men and students were gathered together but there was no sign of any unfamiliar mutants. Rogue was standing with them, looking slightly shaky, but otherwise none the worse for the wear. As Kitty and Kurt walked down the stairs to join them, Rogue walked over to them.  
  
"Hey, Rogue! How are you feeling?" Kitty asked.  
  
"Ah'm, fhan, Ah guess," she said, twisting her fingers in her hair. Kurt wasn't really used to seeing nervous gestures from her. He wondered what was up. "Kurt," she said looking at him and biting her lip. "There's something..."  
  
"Everyone gather round," the professor's voice came.  
  
Rogue glanced back at him, and then turned back to Kurt. "Never mind, Ah'll tell you later."  
  
Kurt turned to look at the professor. Behind him, just coming through the door were a group of teenagers. Their clothing was badly tattered and they looked tired.  
  
"I would like to introduce you all to some new students," the professor told them. He glance behind himself and laughed. "Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, there are rather more of them than I anticipated, so I would like to ask all of you to help make them welcome and show them around."  
  
Kurt looked up at the new mutants with wide eyes. He counted seven of them, from a small girl holding a worn teddy bear to a tall guy in black. Whispering broke out among the students.  
  
The professor spoke again, and they grew quiet. "Perhaps you should all introduce yourselves?" he told the teens standing behind him.  
  
They began to shift nervously, none of them wanting to be the first to speak. Eventually they all turned to look at a boy with dizzyingly colored hair. He glanced around himself and looked resigned.  
  
"Hi, I'm Kale," he said, shuffling his feet.  
  
"He's cute!" Kurt heard one of the girls behind him whisper, none too quietly. There was some giggling and that only made the boy look more nervous. Kurt felt sorry for him. He was certain girls did that sort of thing intentionally, just to keep guys guessing.  
  
A shortish Asian boy was next. He waved to them and grinned. He, at least, didn't look the slightest bit shy. "Hi, I'm Wen, nice to meet you." When no one said anything he looked around in comically exaggerated disappointment. "What? Isn't anyone going to say that /I'm/ cute?"  
  
That broke the tension in the room and almost everyone burst out laughing. After that the rest of the new arrivals had a much easier time introducing themselves. Kurt tried to keep track of all their names.  
  
"I'm Dorian," the youngest boy said. Jamie looked pleased, he was used to being the youngest, and he didn't have many people to spend time with.  
  
A pretty girl introduced herself as Laurie, and the creepy guy standing next to her protectively was Nick.  
  
They came to an inhumanly pale girl with really long white hair, and blind white eyes. She was rubbing her temples. She just stood there while everyone watched until she turned her head towards Kurt saying, "Would you stop that?"  
  
Kurt looked at her in surprise. "Eh? Vhat am I doing?"  
  
"It's like there's two of you, two different people standing in the same place and it's really giving me a headache," she told him.  
  
"Kurt," the professor said. "Perhaps it would be better if you turned off your image inducer."  
  
"But Professor," Kurt began and then looked around. "Alright." He slowly brought his hand to the watch and deactivated it, preparing himself for someone to scream "monster" or something similar. But when he looked up the most he saw was a few raised eyebrows.  
  
"Can I have one of those?" Dorian asked.  
  
The professor smiled. "We'll see."  
  
The pale girl nodded. "Thank you. By the way, I'm Athena, this is Nena," she said placing her hand on the little girl's shoulder. The little girl waved... and so did the teddy bear she was clutching. Several more stuffed animals peaked out from behind her legs making faces at everyone. Next to Kurt, Roberto looked into his mug of coffee suspiciously and Logan, who was standing off to the side, growled.  
  
"Don't worry," Amara whispered to Roberto. "Kurt didn't spike the coffee this time, he was asleep till just now."  
  
"And this," Athena said, continuing. "Is Spiny." She looked behind the group, and then turned back to them. Something meowed. "She doesn't like strangers."  
  
Spiny, it turned out really didn't want to show herself. At last, after a lot of coaxing, she finally decided to come out of her hiding place. Everyone went silent. Kurt looked at her in disbelief. For some reason she walked over to him first, on all fours and sniffed, testing his scent.  
  
"Merrow?" she asked inquisitively.  
  
"Uh, hi." he said waving a three fingered hand.  
  
She sat and stared at him for a while, before making a approving sounding noise and walking to inspect the rest of the students. She sniffed at some of them, and ignored others.  
  
"I think she likes you," Kitty told him, mischievously, after Spiny walked passed her.  
  
"Now, perhaps it is past time we all had breakfast. This way," Professor X said, leading the way to the dining room.  
  
"You can see through holograms?" Ray asked Athena.  
  
"I guess so," she replied.  
  
"Dude, she can see through solid objects," came Wen's voice.  
  
"Whoa, like /clothing/?" Kurt wasn't certain whether Ray sounded impressed, or horrified.  
  
As Logan passed Kurt, he leaned down to tell him something. "No matter how bad you think you have it, someone always has it worse."  
  
Kurt could only nod in agreement.  
  
  
  
I'm finished, be happy for me, for now I can sleep.  
  
Oh, and now that everyone more or less knows what all the characters do, I really need some code names. Help me please!  
  
Favorite Character Votes  
  
Nick 3 Wen 3 Spiny 1 Athena 1 


	5. They Told Me

Hello, this took so much longer for me to get done than I thought it would, please forgive me. I hate the end of the semester, there's always so much to do. Anyway, I was really tired last weekend and I felt like I was burning out, so I decided to just not do anything that really involved thinking (like writing), and then I had so much work on Monday and Tuesday I didn't get any writing done either and then this took me three days to write. Just thought you guys, who have been so cool about writing reviews deserved an explanation.  
  
Oh, and billion thanks for all the cool code name suggestions, I haven't made up my mind yet which ones I like the most, but Nick is probably going to be Shroud (thanks Phobia), because that's just cool. Special thanks to "J" for his/her suggestion about Quill/Spiny. That was useful, thanks!  
  
Anyone have anymore suggestions?  
  
Oh yeah, a minor change in the earlier chapters, I've stripped Laurie of one of her powers, she can no longer walk, or rather jump, on thin air. I had an explanation for the ability as it relates to her other powers, but decided that it just complicates her character, and without it I can have some funny lines about her. I can do that, right? After all, this is a work in progress.  
  
Anyway, enough of that. This chapter had a good bit with Nick and Laurie, mostly Laurie, since they're really two of my favorite characters, and I think I've been ignoring them. It's not very funny, mostly because there isn't as much of Wen and Kale.  
  
  
  
Professor Charles Xavier watched as the instructors and students, new and old, settled into seats in the Institutes's dining room. Some of the chairs around the table had been hastily brought in from the kitchen, and there was less space around than usual, even though the X-Men who had made the trip to Washington had gone to change and weren't present. Jean had intentionally failed to inform him of th sheer number of young mutants they had found during the telepathic discussion they had before the Velocity returned. He supposed it was her idea of a joke, or perhaps revenge for sending her out the for entire night and making her and Scott miss the movie they had been planing on seeing.  
  
When the Velocity had begun to near Bayville, Jean had contacted him and told him that they had found the mutants Cerebro had detected, and after an initial misunderstanding, they had agree to come to the institute with them. She had also voiced concerns about two of the mutants, and a distrust of another.  
  
The students already present at the had been equally surprised, but that didn't stop them from welcoming this new group. He felt proud that his charges were so willing to accept these newcomers without incident. When he had brought in the barrage of younger students the previous year, their integration had gone relatively smoothly, but these mutants were generally older, their powers more developed and their mannerisms more guarded. Never the less, the two groups were quickly becoming more comfortable with each other, and were now engaging in casual conversations as they took seats.  
  
It seemed incredible that these mutants had manged to find one another, out of all the people on the west coast. Or perhaps not so incredible, through the ages, people had always been drawn to find others that they perceived as being like themselves.  
  
He knew he would have to speak with each of the children individually, find out if they had any living relatives or guardians he could contact, what grade level they belonged to, and moreover what level of control they had over their powers. Jean had indicated that they had been living by themselves for sometime, Xavier was curious as to how long that had been.  
  
"Come on, Spiny, just climb onto the chair," Athena was saying near his end of the table.  
  
"Spiny" as they called her, was refusing to take a seat at the table. She kept shaking her head and moving backwards... in what appeared to be fear.  
  
"It's alright, just come sit with the rest of us," Athena continued to coax, but Spiny continued to back away. Curious about the source of her fear, Xavier attempted to read her thoughts. As Jean had told him, they were distorted and confusing, but the girl was focusing on one clear memory. When Xavier manged to sort out the girl's thoughts and read the memory, he winced.  
  
"Please, just come sit with us," Athena continued to beg, but the smaller girl continued to back away. "I don't know what's got into her, I've never seen her act like this before," Athena said, concerned.  
  
"It's alright," Xavier said to the frightened girl. "You are among friends, equals, here. No one will punish or harm you, you may come sit with us if you wish, Quill."  
  
Everyone turned to stared at Xavier, particularly Quill's friends, but he kept his own gaze on her. She had stopped backing away, and was looking at him, her fear slowly being replaced by curiosity.  
  
"That is your name, isn't it? It's alright, I know you can't talk, just nod." When she did, slowly, he smiled, trying to calm her. "If you don't want to, you don't have to, but I would appreciate it if you would come and sit with us."  
  
She stood completely still watching him as he watched her. Everyone was holding their breath, and then, slowly, she approached the seat at the table. She placed one clawed hand on the back of the chair and began to pull herself up into an awkward standing position, and then seated herself. She seemed unused to sitting in a chair and twitched constantly, but Xavier could feel her joy and pride. Hopefully, here, at the Institute, she would learn that she wasn't an animal, not matter how she had been treated in the past.  
  
"How did you...?" Kale asked.  
  
"I, like Jean, am a telepath," Xavier answered.  
  
"Dude, Jean's a telepath?" Wen said, wide eyed.  
  
"Does that mean you can read our minds?" Kale asked. When Xavier nodded he shook his head and said, "Holy shit, man."  
  
"Watch your mouth, Kid," Logan said entering the room with Ororo, Jean, and Scott, who seated themselves at the few remaining spots. Jean sat down next to Scott, across from Wen, who started giving her nervous glances.  
  
"Well, now that we are all present, perhaps we should begin," the professor said, calling everyones attention to the food in front of them.  
  
"At last, I'm starving!" Kurt exclaimed, immediately digging in. Everyone else followed suit, helping themselves before Kurt got the chance to eat all the bacon.  
  
Xavier gave himself a moment to watch the all the students eat and interact. He filled his plate, but paid more attention to what the others were doing then to what he was eating.  
  
Jamie, as predicted, made fast friends with Dorian, the two were sitting next to one another, discussing their respective abilities and friends.  
  
Nena, who had barely spoken a word since they had arrived, was seated next to Athena, who was holding her hand, rather like a mother and child. Nena's stuffed animals were dashing back and forth over the table, getting her what ever food she wanted, much to Logan's displeasure, and everyone else's confusion. One stuffed cat stumbled and ended up falling over onto Kurt's stack of pancakes. He stared at it and it sat and stared back at him at him until Kitty picked it up, laughing, and handed it back to a grateful looking Nena.  
  
Kale and Wen had picked up a conversation with Ray and Bobby about what movies had come out recently, and if any of them were any good. They were completely engrossed, laughing, and asking whether they had any videos in the institute.  
  
/Which one was it who's thoughts you could not read?/ Xavier asked Jean telepathically once she had finished serving herself.  
  
/Laurie, the girl to your left,/ she told him, not interrupting her conversation with Scott.  
  
Xavier studied the girl as she ate. She had seated herself next to Nicholas, the black eyed boy. Neither of them had engaged in any conversation with anyone else. Though Nicholas would answer any questions anyone directed at them, his responses were brief, almost curt. Laurie barely said anything at all.  
  
Xavier attempted to scan her thoughts and found himself blocked, just as Jean had indicated. It was the strength of the block that surprised him, he could sense none of her thoughts. Yet, if she was a telepath, then she should have become aware of his attempts to read her mind, but she showed no sign of noticing. It was as if she wasn't the one responsible; as if someone else was blocking him.  
  
Nicholas turned to look at Xavier, narrowing his eyes, his black gaze menacing. He could see some of Nick's thoughts, bits and pieces of painful memories, but nothing distinct. Still he could see them much more clearly than the girl's.  
  
/Leave us alone, Professor./  
  
Xavier heard the mental voice. He hid his surprise well. Farther down the table Nicholas turned back to his food and continued to eat as if nothing had happened.  
  
/We came to your institute, isn't that enough?/  
  
/Nicholas? Are you a telepath?/  
  
/No, but I know that you are, and that's good enough./  
  
/I don't understand./  
  
/Since I don't think it's Red over there who's decided to try and take a peak at my brain, as she would most likely have tried earlier. It must be you, Professor./  
  
/Are you protecting Laurie's thoughts?/  
  
/Me? No, I can't even protect my own, as you've no doubt already noticed, much less someone else's. I told you I'm not a telepath... So you tried hers before mine, Jesus Christ, doesn't anyone have any privacy around you?/  
  
/If you're not a telepath, then how did you know I was reading your thoughts?/  
  
/It's a very distinct feeling, as if someone's sticking needles in my brain./  
  
/You have encountered telepaths before?/  
  
/That's my business, Professor, the only reason I'm here is because she wanted us to come with your lackeys, but don't think that'll stop us from leaving./  
  
/I still don't understand all this, perhaps if you would explain.../  
  
/No. I'm not explaining anything. You want us here right? Well, we'll stay and learn and be good little mutants, and even join your little spandex clad superhero group if you want, just stay out of our heads, okay?/  
  
/Very well, but I would prefer some sort of explanation./  
  
/Well tough, you're not going to get one... at least not now, not yet. Look, would you stop that? You're giving me a headache./  
  
^~^~^~^~^~^  
  
After the meal concluded, and everyone was about to get up, Xavier glanced around the collection of mutants again. The new ones, as well as those who had gone to meet them, looked tired, undoubtedly from their overnight journey.  
  
Nicholas hadn't so much as looked in his direction since they ended the conversation. The boy was an enigma, but Xavier was willing to give him his privacy. Hopefully some day he would realize that he was among friends.  
  
Xavier turned his mind back to the matters at hand.  
  
"Perhaps now that everyone is fed, I should give you all a little more background on the institute.  
  
"I opened the Institute several years ago when it became obvious to me that larger numbers of emerging mutants would need to be taught to control their powers, and also to help make the eventual introduction of mutants to the world at large smoother. Jean and Scott were my first pupils.  
  
"I also created the X-Men, a group of mutants dedicated to using our powers for the good of society.  
  
"No, as you all know, the existence of mutants was made public several months ago, and the circumstances were less than ideal. Fortunately we have helped to secure a least some rights for ourselves and others like us, but the situation is less than ideal.  
  
"Most of you will be attending public schools. I ask you now to be on your best behavior. While mutants are allowed to attend public schools, you are not under any circumstances, allowed to use your powers on school grounds, under threat of expulsion."  
  
Xavier glanced around the room. "Are there any questions?" Wen was the only one to raise his hand. "Yes, Wen?"  
  
"Well, first of all, I thought this place /was/ a school, aren't /you/ going to teach us? Secondly, I haven't been to school since I was about Dorian's age, and I'm not going back to middle school. And lastly, why can't we use our powers on school grounds? What if someone finds out we're mutants and tries to hurt us? Are we allowed to use our powers then?" Wen babbled. He looked concerned. Kale, sitting next to him was nodding, and Dorian was looking at his shoes.  
  
"Well, to answer you first question, this is a school, however, here you will be taught to use your powers, and attending public schools with other children your ages may be a valuable experience for all of you. As for the second, if it is necessary we will tutor you here until you are ready to enter into the appropriate grade level. And as for the last." The Professor sighed. "The best I can tell you is not to use your powers unless it is unavoidable.  
  
"Now, I will need to speak with each of you in the library for a moment," Xavier said, wheeling his chair away from the table. Laurie, if you will come with me? Logan, Ororo, Jean, you as well, I think," Xavier concluded, turning leading the way.  
  
Laurie stood up to follow the professor and Nicholas grabbed her hand to stop her. He glared at Xavier. Laurie pulled her hand out of his grip and whispered something to him that seemed to calm him. She walked around the table and followed them.  
  
^~^~^~^~^~^~^  
  
Laurie followed the professor and the others into the library. She glanced around nervously as she seated herself. The books lining the walls tempted her to pick them up and look through their pages. It had been so long since she gotten a chance to just sit and read, she and Nick had been running for so long. It was so hard to ignore the constant babbling, but when she was able to truly immerse herself in something, it seemed to fade away.  
  
The babbling was quieter than usual, which was a relief. Most of it sounded like whispering now and, thankfully, she couldn't understand anything it was saying. As her eyes fell on the man with the metal claws (Was Logan his name?), the whispering picked up, louder now, but still mostly indistinct, only one of /them/ stood out clearly, she tried to ignore it, she didn't like that one at all, it was new and she wished it would just stop talking.  
  
/Murderer!/  
  
/Don't trust him./  
  
/He's dangerous!/  
  
/MURDERER!/  
  
/Shut up!/ she thought at it vehemently. It quited down to an indistinct mumbling, fading in with the rest. She'd learned not to trust the ones she didn't recognize.  
  
She looked up at the professor. The white haired lady was standing just behind him. She looked nice, Laurie thought, sort of motherly, safe. The red haired girl seemed nice too, but the claw man bothered her, he was scary. The professor... she wasn't sure what she thought of him, he seemed nice, and one of the older ones had told her to trust him, had told her all about him and his institute. Nick didn't like him, but then Nick didn't really like anyone.  
  
Nick hadn't wanted her to go with them. Sometimes he was too protective. He treated her like a precious glass ornament, afraid she might shatter if he wasn't careful enough. She wasn't fragile. Why couldn't he understand that?  
  
"Now, Laurie, Jean here tells me that you knew something about us before you anyone told you," the professor said. Laurie lowered her head. Why had she decided to listen to /that/ one? It wasn't one of the one she knew real well, it had only spoken to her once before, but it had seemed so compelling, and the last time she had listened to it, it had been right. It /had/ been important, she didn't want to see them fighting if they didn't have to be.  
  
But she didn't want to be here. She didn't want these people poking and prodding at her, or worse, sending her to an asylum or something. She never wanted to go back to that place again. There was enough shrieking /inside/ her head, she didn't need to listen to it /outside/ as well. She wasn't crazy, she knew she wasn't crazy.  
  
"It is my belief that you are a telepath." One of /them/ was screaming hysterically now. It sounded like it was in pain, but it wasn't saying anything useful, so she ignored it. "...and a fairly powerful one, since I cannot read any of your thoughts."  
  
She looked up at him in surprise. "I'm not! I mean, I'm not a telepath, I can't read thoughts or anything, and I'm not stopping you from reading mine," she said. She wondered if he would believe her. Maybe she should have just told him she was a telepath, now he was going to ask her more questions.  
  
"If you're not a telepath, then how did you know we were from the Institute?" Jean asked. /Institute/, Laurie didn't like that name, it made her think about being institutionalized. "Look, Laurie, we want to help you. You can trust us."  
  
"I don't want to talk about it," she told them looking down at her feet. She could lie, make something up, but she wasn't any good at lying, and /they/ always made fun of her when she tried.  
  
"Please, Laurie, try to understand, we can't help you learn to control your ability if we don't know what it is," the professor said to her. She looked up into his concerned eyes. She decided she liked him, he seemed really nice.  
  
"Can you really do that? Help me stop it?" Hope was new to her. Maybe they really could help her. That would be nice, she'd forgotten what quiet sounded like.  
  
"Yes, but you must tell us, how did you know all that?"  
  
"They told me," she said, biting her lip.  
  
"Who told you?," the professor asked after a pause.  
  
"The voices."  
  
That confused them. They were all watching her as if they knew the answer, but were never the less waiting for someone to ask the question.  
  
"What voices?" Jean asked. She looked worried.  
  
"The voices in my head." 


	6. Character Profile: Laurie

Hello everyone! I know I haven't updated this in a long time, but sadly, my computer decided to die on me a while back. My motherboard is dead, and there isn't a good chance I'm going to be able to find another one compatible with my cpu, so it looks like I'm going to have to replace both. I do intend to continue writing this in the mean time, thanks to a friend who is being nice enough to let me use her computer, but updates will be few and far between.  
  
First classes, now this? I swear, fate just doesn't want me to finish this story.  
  
In the mean time, huge thanks to Lhiannan-Sidhe, who been helping me with character and story development, and even some of the writing.  
  
To Dax: Really? I've never seen any Static Shock. Aw, and I thought I was being original! Well, Nick has a cooler codename, so there! :-P  
  
Sorry, no continuation of the story today, but every so often I'm going to be posting character profiles, like the one below. I got the idea from that episode where that kid gets in the mansion's security system, and sees some files on the students. In every profile there will be a section called Xavier's file, plus some of my own notes on the characters. I'm also going to include an in depth physical description of some of the them, since I know I haven't really spoken about how some of them look. It's not much, I'd just like to let people know how I imagine of them.  
  
First up is Laurie, since the last chapter had a sizable chunk about her. I'll take votes on who's profile to put up next, and I'm still looking for favorite character votes and codenames.  
  
The profiles shouldn't contain many spoilers, or at the very least nothing serious, but feel free to skip them completely, since you won't miss anything if you do.  
  
  
  
Laurie:  
  
The Crazy One  
  
"A neurosis is a secret that you don't know you are keeping." Kenneth Tynan  
  
"The dead cannot cry out for justice; it is a duty of the living to do so for them." Lois McMaster Bujold  
  
Likes: Ice cream, books, escapism, television shows, Nick  
  
Dislikes: Doctors, hospitals, tests, voices, people thinking she's crazy, crowds  
  
Xavier's File  
  
Name  
  
Given: Laurie  
  
Family: Unknown  
  
Code: None  
  
Age: 17  
  
Date of Birth: January 23  
  
Place of Birth: Unknown  
  
Hair: Brown  
  
Eyes: Brown  
  
Height: 5'5"  
  
Weight: 125 pounds  
  
Powers: An unidentified form of prescience or telepathy that manifests as "voices"  
  
Blood Type: O negative  
  
Medical Concerns: Laurie appears to be somewhat anemic and her health is fragile. She is prone to feinting fits and headaches. For this reason she should be kept out danger room practice for the time being.  
  
Author's Notes: Laurie is one of my favorite characters to write. She's so wonderfully unhinged, and not merely as a result of her mutation. It's a lot of fun to write from her perspective as it's so utterly unlike any other character I've ever written about.  
  
Laurie is almost childlike, in some ways it seems as if her emotional development has been stunted. Of course this may simply be because the constant background noise in her head keeps her from concentrating.  
  
While Laurie isn't stupid by any measure, she's not the brightest crayon in the box either. She's probably come across as more intelligent if she wasn't always zoning out.  
  
Laurie relies heavily on Nicholas, is lost without him and is rarely far from his side. She sees him (at least for the time being) as sort of a protective older brother figure. Whether he shares this view of their relationship is debatable.  
  
As was mentioned earlier, Laurie stayed in a mental institution for a time, and is now frightened of doctors. She is well aware that she isn't entirely sane, mutation or no mutation, but persists in denying this, not only to others, but to herself as well. While she generally isn't a threat to the people around her, Nick still keeps an eye on her... just in case.  
  
Laurie is fairly sickly, and quite physically weak. She's also complacent and unassertive to the extreme in most situations, completely willing to accept what people tell her, and do as they instruct her. Combined with the nature of her mutation, this personality trait can be quite dangerous. When the voices become particularly persistent, she'll even do what /they/ say, no mater what the consequences, making her behavior irrational at times. She will rarely stand up for herself, and looks most often to Nick for guidance.  
  
Is Laurie the one blocking Xavier? The answer is an unequivocal no, she simply doesn't have that kind of power. As for who is responsible and how... well, I wont tell you just yet. Does she have any other powers? Yes, she has one other ability and one major weakness, both of which will appear later in the story.  
  
Physical description: Laurie is a fairly short, slender young woman. She stands just below five and a half feet. She had short brown hair, rather messily cut into a bob, and large doe-like brown eyes. While she appears mostly Caucasian her features suggest that she has some non-European ancestry. While she couldn't be described as sexy, she is rather strikingly pretty, in a clueless, innocent sort of way.  
  
Laurie favors lose sweatshirts or button up shirts, and cargo pants. Her clothing is usually badly wrinkled, and her hair unkempt. 


	7. Got a Bit of a Stick Up His Arse

Hurray, I got to post this sooner than I thought I would. This is the first chapter with anything from Wen's point of view.  
  
Anyways, Nick's profile is next, and then Quill's.  
  
Big thanks to everyone for all your help and suggestions! I like the name Fade for Kale, I'm probably gonna use that. Thanks Milly!  
  
So far:  
  
Nick: Shroud Kale: Fade Nena: Animate, or Animator  
  
The professor blinked, startled. Laurie was looking right at him, she seemed scared of what they would do now that she had told them. She watched them with frightened brown eyes. There was something odd about the way the girl looked at them. Her expression was... childlike, and trusting... and unnatural. Something in those eyes suggested that she was holding on to sanity by a thread.  
  
He felt as if he was stumbling around in the dark. In nearly any other circumstance he would have been able to see into her mind to determine whether or not she was sane, but the metal wall that kept him out of her thoughts seemed all but impenetrable, and confusing. The more he studied it the more he became certain that she was not in fact the one that was creating it. The barrier's origin, it seemed, would remain a mystery for the time being.  
  
"What are these voices like?" Storm asked, breaking the silence.  
  
Laurie looked both relived that someone had spoken, and uncertain of how to answer. "What do mean?" she asked in a shaky voice.  
  
"Well, for starters, what do they sound like?" Jean elaborated.  
  
Laurie's brow furrowed in concentration. "They're all different. Some of them sound like adults, some are children, some are men, some are woman, and sometimes I can't tell. Some don't even talk in English. Right now most of them are whispering."  
  
"Most of them?" the professor asked.  
  
She looked sheepish. "One of them is screaming," she said in what was barely a whisper.  
  
Xavier felt alarmed at that. "What is this voice saying?" he asked.  
  
"I... I can't understand any of it. It's just screaming."  
  
"What are the others saying?"  
  
She looked down at her hands and closed her eyes, as if trying to hear something far away. "I can only understand one of them, but I've never heard that one before."  
  
"What is it telling you?"  
  
She hesitated. "The guy with the visor... Scott? There was a plane crash... his parents are dead, aren't they?"  
  
"How did they... They told you that? The voices?" Jean asked. Now she looked alarmed.  
  
Laurie nodded, not looking up. A tear fell onto her lap. "Most of the time when I can understand them they don't tell me anything... anything I want to hear."  
  
"What do they normally speak to you about?" Storm asked, sitting down next to the distraught girl and putting her arm around her shoulders.  
  
"They... yell about things... like death... and-and revenge and hurting people, some just cry, or scream a lot. I try to ignore them most of the time... but it's not always easy." She looked up at Xavier. He could feel the intensity behind that gaze boring into him. "You think I'm crazy, don't you?" she whispered.  
  
Xavier considered his answer carefully before speaking. "I think, that like all of the students at the Institute, you are a remarkable young person. I also think that your ability is causing you a great deal of mental and emotional pain. Hopefully we will be able to teach you how to control your ability, to suppress it when you wish."  
  
She nodded. "Thank you."  
  
"No, thank you. If you had not stopped that fight, I am afraid many people could have been hurt over a misunderstanding. Never think of your ability as a curse, it can always be used for good."  
  
She smiled at him.  
  
The rest of their conversation was considerably less dramatic. Xavier discovered that while neither Laurie or Nicholas had ever attended public school, they had both been home schooled. Laurie was evasive about her own past, but she did tell them that she had no living relatives, and that she and Nicholas had known each other for most of their lives. Xavier also discovered that she was prone to both feinting and dizzy spells, but when he offered to have her blood tested for the common causes of such maladies, she became nervous, and seemed reluctant.  
  
Throughout the entire conversation, Laurie would occasionally stare into space for a few moments, oblivious to her surroundings and then snap back into focus, and look at them apologetically. Sometimes she would begin to mutter under her breath, as if talking to someone, or rapidly shifting emotions would flicker across her face.  
  
When they finished speaking, Jean lead her out of the room to the foyer where the other's were waiting. Just after she left Logan turned to the professor.  
  
"Are ya sure she's a mutant and not just nuts?" Logan asked. If anyone else had heard him say it, they might have thought that Logan was serious, but Xavier could hear the hint of amusement in his voice.  
  
"She is clearly a mutant," Xavier responded, "The 'voices' she describes could not have given her such accurate information otherwise. Whether she is entirely stable or not is another matter." He sighed, turning his wheelchair towards the window. "I feel rather... lost," he turned back towards Ororo and Logan. "At least one of these new students has suffered great emotional pain because of her power, and I fear that she might not be the only one. In the past I have always been confident in my ability to guide those who have come to the Institute. Yet, with young Laurie in particular, there is little I can do to ascertain her exact state of mind, which worries me to say the least."  
  
Ororo placed her hand on his shoulder. "/I/ have confidence in you, Xavier. Perhaps this will not be easy, but we will do what we can, all those children deserve a chance. One I don't think anyone else can give them. All we can do is our best."  
  
Logan crossed his arms and looked out the library window. "And with those new recruits Magneto has, those 'Acolytes', we're gonna need all the help we can get."  
  
^~^~^~^~^~^~^  
  
Wen stepped out of the library feeling glum. He'd just finished his talk with that professor guy. He /knew/ he should have stayed in school. This was seriously gonna suck.  
  
On the bright side he was to begin training with Ororo, the white haired woman soon. That sounded like fun. He'd never had anyone who could really teach him what he could do with his ability. There had been his parents of course... but that wasn't the.. and anyway he'd been to young to understand.  
  
/Don't think about it./  
  
Everyone was standing around the entry hall talking in groups, or in Nick and Laurie's case, keeping to themselves and not talking. Athena was conversing with the guy with the sunglasses, and one of the younger guys Wen had been speaking to during breakfast, Bobby. Nena was clutching Athena's leg.  
  
Dorian and Jamie, the other young boy were tossing a basketball back and forth... indoors, and Dorian's dripping hair had already created a series of small puddles on the floor.  
  
/Recipe for disaster.../  
  
Across the room a Gothic looking girl with a streak of white in her brown hair was standing with her arms crossed, looking around the room critically.  
  
/Oh, that's what we need, a female version of Nick./  
  
As he continued to scan the room, Wen spotted Kale speaking with one of the girls (Amara?). He looked nervous and awkward. Reminded of what the professor had asked him to do, Wen made his way over towards his best friend.  
  
/Some things never change,/ Wen reflected. /Damn, he's as clueless as ever. Doesn't realize how cute girls think he is. Not fair./  
  
Kale angled his head to one side and laughed nervously sending a mass of silvery colored hair waving and shimmering.  
  
/It's the hair, it has /got/ to be the hair. Definitely not fair./  
  
One momentary flash of jealousy buried under his usual good cheer later, Wen was standing next to Kale. His friend looked up at him, embarrassment in his eyes.  
  
"Scram, lover-boy, they wanna see you next," Wen said, watching the acute embarrassment in Kale's eyes grow even stronger. Wen gave Amara a grin.  
  
"Very funny, Wen," Kale said dryly. He looked over at Wen for a second and then smiled a predatory grin.  
  
/This can't be good./  
  
Kale's expression became more amiable. Damn, but did it look fake. "So, how did it go?"  
  
"How did what go?"  
  
"Your interview."Wen suddenly became strongly aware of the fact that Athena was standing only a few feet away.  
  
"Oh fine, not so bad at all," Wen responded.  
  
/Jerk, turn about is /not/ fair play./  
  
"Really? What did they say? You know, about school?"  
  
/Jerk jerk jerk jerk/  
  
"Er, nothing much."  
  
"Really? Nothing at all?"  
  
"Not really."  
  
"Spill, monkey boy."  
  
Wen sighed in defeat. "I'm still being sent to high school, but they're probably going to place me a grade lower, and put me into remedial classes for math and science, and I have to attend tutoring here on weekends," Wen sighed. He'd thought that they were going to keep him at the Institute, but the professor had told him that his grasp of English was at least at his grade level and his math wasn't too poor. And of course there were more teachers at Bayville High, so why not take advantage of the opportunity to send him to school and advance his education?  
  
/Guess I have Athena to thank for that. All that hanging out with her and trying to impress her these past few months must have helped. But, please don't let her have heard what I just said./  
  
A quick glance in her direction confirmed his worst fear. She gave him a look filled with pity. Sympathy he could handle, but not pity. He looked away. He didn't want to face her now.  
  
/Remedial classes, God Damn it./  
  
He supposed he had been asking for that, trying to embarrass Kale in front of a girl like that, and years back Kale had been the one that had insisted that Wen hang around with the old man Argus and go to school, but still...  
  
Kale had a superior look in his eye.  
  
"If you say 'I told you so,' I am gonna punch you one right in the nose," Wen threatened shaking his fist in Kale's face ineffectually.  
  
Kale grinned, trying not to laugh. The girl looked totally lost.  
  
"Now scram, ya don't wanna keep this professor guy waiting, he might send Freddie Krouger out to come find you," Wen told Kale, waving his hands around menacingly in a ridicules imitation of Logan's claws. When Kale had finally left, Wen turned to the girl and grinned his dopiest grin.  
  
"Hello, I'm Wen, very nice to meet you."  
  
"Um, I'm Amara, nice to meet you too," she responded with a smile. She was kinda pretty. Very... normal looking, sane.  
  
/Ah well, when have I ever gone for normal girls? What was that line? " My darling girl, when are you going to understand that "normal" is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage." Not that anyone around here could really be called normal by default./  
  
Wen leaned in conspiratorially. "Don't let Kale's shy act fool you, he thinks you have nice boobs." Wen turned and walked away, leaving her blinking and blushing.  
  
/Now that was juvenile. Oh well, revenge is sweet. Now what else can I do to shake things up around here?/  
  
As he walked around the room he spotted the furry blue dude talking to the skinny girl with the ponytail. They were sitting on the foot of the staircase and she was smiling at him and they spoke to each other with a sort of causal familiarity that most often denotes long friendship. It looked like she was teasing him.  
  
/Hm? Something going on there?/ Wen thought as she walked away, smiling. /I guess taunting the furry guy would be low, even for me. Not that I've ever had any standards./  
  
He glanced at her as she walked past him. /Why are all the girls here so cute? Is there some kind of unspoken rule that says that all female mutants have to be attractive?/ He noticed Spiny... no Quill, pawing at one of the drapes and sniffing near the windowsill. Sometimes she reminded him of the terrier Old Man Argus used to keep. /Okay, maybe not./  
  
The blue guy looked up at him as he approached and smiled good-naturedly. There was a hint of mischief in that furry blue face.  
  
"Hello, you are... Ven?"  
  
"Wen, actually," Wen responded with a grin. "Mind if I sit down?"  
  
Kurt's expression showed that he was used to that sort of teasing and didn't seem to mind. He gestured towards the spot next to him.  
  
Wen settled down and looked over at the girl who had just left and smiled suggestively. "So, who's she?"  
  
"Ah, that's Keetty." Kurt said, resting his head in his palm.  
  
"Your girlfriend?" Wen asked, and then smirked at the shocked expression on his face.  
  
/If he wasn't covered in fur, he'd be blushing./  
  
"No, Keetty and I are just friends," he told Wen. "I have a girlfriend, her name is Amanda."  
  
"Ah, she knows about...?"  
  
"Ya, she does not mind. Her parents zhough... zhey mind."  
  
"Ouch, rough. So there's nothing with you and Kitty?"  
  
"Vell, vhen she first came here, I had a big crush on her, but she... vasn't interested."  
  
"Really rough, I guess I know how that feels," Wen said watching Athena talking with the glasses guy.  
  
Kurt noticed Wen's gaze and smiled to himself. "Vhat iz her name?"  
  
"Athena, she's... she's awesome, but..." Wen looked back towards Kurt and shrugged. "Sometimes I get the feeling I'm not good enough for her. I mean, she's brilliant, you know? I just don't know if she'll ever feel the same way about me."  
  
"Ya, I felt that way with Keetty at first. She's alvays getting A's, but zhen she started zeeing Lance... so I guess zhere's no accounting for taste."  
  
"Lance?" Wen asked, Kurt had said the name with more than it's share of dislike.  
  
"One of zhe Brotherhood mutants." Kurt said with distaste.  
  
"What's the 'Brotherhood'?" Wen questioned. /This can't be good./  
  
"No vone told you about zhem?" Kurt asked and Wen shook his head. "Zhey are a group of mutants zhat work for zhis guy, Magneto."  
  
"Really? What do they want?" /Definitely not good./  
  
Kurt shrugged. "I zhink you should just ask the professor, I'm not so sure myself. Zhey zhink zhat humans and mutants cannot live together."  
  
"Are they dangerous?"  
  
"Sometimes, zhey might try to pick a fight if zhey find out you are a student here, so you'd better be careful."  
  
"Oh wonderful, that's just what we need." Wen sighed. Between people knowing about mutants, and having another bunch of mutants that might be out to get him, /and/ getting stuck in those lousy classes, this little trip was not turning out to be as fun as he'd hoped. Well, he wasn't certain how long he was going to hang around here anyway. Settling down just wasn't his thing.  
  
He decided it was time to change the subject. "So, anything fun to do around here?"  
  
Kurt grinned, "Vell, zhere are the theaters and the like, and zhere is this place zhat serves zhe best burgers, zhey are called 'gut bombs', aside from zhat zhe institute has a pool and zhere is a television room. But, zometimes, I just have to make my own 'entertainment'"  
  
Wen grinned in response, he had a pretty good idea where this was going. "How's that?"  
  
"Vell, vonce I replaced zhe water in zhe coffee maker vith gin."  
  
Wen burst out laughing. "Where did you get it?" /Why didn't I ever think of that?/  
  
Kurt shrugged. "I Zhink it vas Logan's, I found it in ze back of vone of the cabinets. I got in big trouble for zhat."  
  
"I bet it was worth it, though." Wen said, picturing a bunch of young mutants on coffee and alcohol. Kurt just shrugged and grinned.  
  
/Kindred spirit, maybe this is going to be more fun then I thought./  
  
"So what about that watch thing? Do you wear that all the time?"  
  
"Only vhen I go out." Kurt said, fingering the band.  
  
"Then why did you have it on earlier?" Wen asked.  
  
"Vhen Keetty first came to zhe institute, she saw me and... vell, I guess I frightened her," Kurt was looking away. Wen had never really thought about it with Quill, because she seemed more animal than human, but looking so.. different must really be hard on someone, he could tell how much it bothered Kurt.  
  
"Now she iz alvays encouraging me about it, but it's still hard. People used to call me a demon."  
  
"Come on, you didn't honestly think anyone of us would have a problem with it," Wen asked, trying to lighten the mood. "I mean, look who we hang out with."  
  
"You mean Quill?"  
  
"Quill? Naw, I meant Nick, if anyone's a demon, he is."  
  
Kurt laughed. "He can't be zhat bad..."  
  
"Wanna bet? He's pretty creepy, and the stuff he can do with those shadows of his..." Wen shook his head in mock distaste.  
  
"Vell, zhen I hope I don't have to be his roomate."  
  
"Oh don't get me wrong, he's worth a laugh every now and then, I mean, his favorite sport is Kale-baiting." Kurt snickered at that. "Got a bit of a stick up his arse though."  
  
Kurt snorted. "Should get along with Scott zhen."  
  
Wen glanced from glasses man to Nick, noting a near palpable feeling of animosity. "For some reason, I don't think..."  
  
Wen and Kurt's attention was pulled away from their conversation by a loud noise. Jamie had slipped on the puddles of sea water and slid into Dorian, who dropped the ball on Jamie's head by accident. They were sent careening across the floor into the curtains that Quill had been pawing at, pulling down both the curtains and Quill.  
  
Everyone turned to look at what had made the noise and a few people ran to help. Scott dragged the curtain off of the three of them reveling an extremely confused looking Quill, Dorian laying with a basketball on his chest, and... seven Jamie... s.  
  
Wen blinked, "What the heck?"  
  
"Merrow?" said Quill.  
  
Kurt didn't say anything at all, he was laughing too hard.  
  
Nick 3 Wen 3 Quill 2 Athena 1 Laurie 1 Kale 1 


	8. Character Profile: Nick

Hello, just another profile for today, this time it's for Nick, Quill is next, and then Athena.  
  
Aw, only one person reviewed the last chapter :-( . On the other hand, I broke forty reviews, which I guess isn't so bad for an OC story.  
  
On a side note, Lhiannan-Sidhe did an awesome portrait of Nick (wow, he looks cute ;-), and is working on one of Laurie. I'd like to share them with everyone, but I don't have any place to post them. If you have a website where you can post them, send me an E-Mail, or just say so in a review. Thanks a lot!  
  
  
  
Nicholas  
  
The Creepy One  
  
"Dance with the Devil and the Devil don't change; the Devil changes you." Eight MM  
  
"It is much safer to be feared than to be loved, if one must chose." The Prince, Machiavelli  
  
Likes: Laurie, darkness, harassing Kale, Gothic music, black clothing. Dislikes: Bright lights, school, crowds, doctors, strangers, Scott, Scott's optic blasts.  
  
Xavier's File  
  
Name  
  
Given: Nick  
  
Family: Unknown  
  
Codename: Shroud  
  
Age: 17  
  
Date of Birth: January 23  
  
Place of Birth: Unknown  
  
Hair: Black  
  
Eyes: Black  
  
Height: 6'  
  
Weight: 190 pounds  
  
Powers: Nicholas' power is unusual. At first glance he appears to have some level of control over shadows. This is of course impossible, as shadow is merely an absence of light. Rather, first and foremost, Nicholas has the ability to open portals in a manner similar to Kurt. However, Nicholas opens his portals to an entirely different dimension than Kurt. Cyclops, who was once dragged into one of these portals describes was he experienced on the other side as nothing but absolute darkness and intense cold. Nicholas only seems to be capable of forming these portals in areas where there is a relative absence of strong light.  
  
Nicholas seems to be able to travel using these portals, but only over short distances, and unlike Kurt's ability, Nicholas' travel is not instantaneous. Unlike most people, who would seemingly contract hypothermia if they remained within this dimension, Nicholas seems to be able to survive inside for extended periods of time, but he can only emerge near his original location.  
  
The shadow-like substance Nicholas controls, which is actually closer in initial consistency to mist, appears to be drawn from inside these portals. He seems capable of giving this substance solid physical form, or perhaps this is merely a normal property of the 'mist' when it is brought into our dimension. It should be noted that when he first fought Jean and Cyclops in the forest at night, he succeeded in capturing Cyclops, a trained X-Man. However, in brighter conditions his abilities are greatly diminished.  
  
With proper training, Nicholas could make a powerful addition to the X-Men.  
  
Blood Type: B negative  
  
Medical Concerns: Appears to be highly sensitive to light, over exposer may cause temporary blindness.  
  
  
  
Author's Notes: Nick's not such a bad guy, he just isn't a people person. Okay, so he's nasty, cynical, and anti-social, but he has his reasons, and even his good points.  
  
Nick's someone who's lived a hard life, and he's spent the last few years watching the one person he cared most about slowly lose her mind. It's made him more than just a bit... guarded.  
  
One one hand, he can be exceedingly harsh and nasty. He goes out of his way to frighten or disturb the people he knows (and sometimes strangers, just for the heck of it), and he's just not very trusting in general. On the other hand, he's not nearly as cold as he'd like people to think he is, and he occasionally displays real affection, bravery, and loyalty. Athena and Wen may be the only two people who realize this, though Wen would never admit it. Athena simply because she is an exceptionally kind, helpful person, and his willing to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and Wen because he's a keen observer of human nature, though he is perfectly content to make fun of Nick, just as he does to everyone else.  
  
Nick doesn't actually dislike Kale, if anything he's more fond of him than most of the other mutants he knows, he really just enjoys baiting him. That Kale tends to overreact, is an added bonus. Of course the realization that Kale is attracted to Laurie may have an even larger impact on Nick's behavior as he's more then just a touch protective of her (and sometimes downright possessive).  
  
Nick has... feelings towards Laurie, though he's not entirely certain of what those feelings are. He's protective of her, first and foremost, she's a childhood friend, and the one spot of stability in his otherwise incredibly unstable life. That she's slowly becoming more and more unstable is only serving to unsettle him further. Aside from that, he honestly cares for her, he might even love her, in his own slightly twisted way.  
  
Though she doesn't really realize it, Nick looks to Laurie for guidance, just as often as she looks to him. He's come to trust in her abilities, and more often then not, when the two of them make some decision, he tends to weigh in her opinions over his own (like the choice to go with the X- Men, or to seek out the cabin).  
  
Nick tends to be quiet and reserved. When he speaks his sentences tend to be carefully phrased and well thought out. He does carry grudges, and can be unrelentingly stubborn. He's also doesn't really trust strangers and non-mutants. He has his secrets, and doesn't like it when people pry. He can sense when someone is using telepathy on him, and he /hates/ it.  
  
Appearance: Nick is quite tall, and has a toned, muscular build. His eyes are solid black without any visible whites. His hair is black, straight, and heavy. It hangs to just past his shoulders. His finger nails are black (nope, that's not nail polish) longer than usual, and sharp. His skin is very pale, (he'd got nothing on Athena, but then she's an albino) as he dislikes bright light of any sort and will go out of his way to avoid it. He looks a lot like a modern interpretation of a vampire, just without the fangs.  
  
Nick wears black, lots of it. He likes turtlenecks, long coats, and anything else that will limit his exposer to strong light.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Wen 4 Nick 3 Quill 2 Athena 1 Laurie 1 Kale 1 


End file.
